Some Vershire Residents Back Alternate Plan For Broadband

A FairPoint Communications sign stands outside the company headquarters in South Portland, Maine. Some Vershire residents say they've got a better plan for broadband than the FairPoint service the state supports.

More
than a year ago, the public service department and FairPoint Communications
agreed that the company would not have to pay out 6.6 million dollars in
penalties levied for poor service.

Instead
FairPoint would use the money to expand broadband to underserved areas in Vermont.

Last
month FairPoint announced it would provide service in 19 Vermont towns under its agreement with the state.

But
even though they've waited a long time for broadband, some residents say
they've got a better plan than the FairPoint service the state supports.

But
when Fairpoint Communications
announced it would bring DSL broadband to Vershire, under its agreement with
the state, residents like Kathy Hooke weren't impressed. Hooke's response is based in part on her
experience with Fairpoint's phone service.

"We've come to accept as the norm in Vershire
phone outages that last for days at a time, month after month," she says. "Why
would Fairpoint suddenly turn around and say, here's a community that we want
to serve and we want to do the best that we possibly can for them?"

But
Hooke also doubts that FairPoint - or any DSL - is the answer to her community's future
broadband needs, adding, "It just doesn't seem like that's a step forward for
us, especially when we have a viable plan that would get us moving ahead."

Hooke
is referring to a plan by EC
Fiber, a community based organization that wants to build a fiber optic
network in 23 Central Vermont towns, including Vershire. Fiber is capable of faster speeds and doesn't
have the limitations of DSL systems which use copper wire.

The
problem for EC Fiber is a policy that prevents it from getting any Vermont broadband grant money in communities where FairPoint
has chosen under it's agreement with the state.

"FairPoint said we're not to do that because
we want to compete with EC Fiber, so we're going to build this DSL which will
shut off the funds to EC Fiber, rather than work in a cooperative fashion for
the benefit of the whole state," says Sola.

Sola
says giving FairPoint control over where to spend the 6.6 million dollars means
it's not being used where it's needed most. He says the state shouldn't allow FairPoint to
go into places where there's already a broadband option when there are other
areas that don't have options.

Sola
also says by denying grant money to EC Fiber in Vershire and other towns, the
state is relegating them to a technology that will become obsolete as demand
increases for the higher speeds and more bandwidth that fiber is able to
provide.

"The state should not be investing in
technology that has flat lined," he says.
"The only future proof technology that we have available today for
building out the community of Vershire and Chelsea and these other places is
fiber technology."

So
far it's provided service to 200 customers in Barnard with 50 more on a waiting
list.

Sola
says the organization hasn't been able to secure investment capital because of
the credit crisis. Grant money has also
eluded the organization. Instead its relied on grassroots support by selling
promissory notes to people like Kathy Hooke in Vershire.

Other
people in EC Fiber's service area have been vocal in their criticism of FairPoint,
telling state officials they have no faith in the company.

"I have made a point not to bash anybody in
this whole debate," Smith says. "The
fact is, there's a lot of things swirling out there that just aren't true. This isn't an argument about technology. It's competition. I believe that the EC Fiber
model has problems sustaining itself when it's in direct competition."

Smith
says its not an argument about technology because the network his company is
building combines fiber and DSL. While
the speeds aren't as fast as fiber, he says they're competitive and will serve
customers long into the future as improvements are made.

Smith
adds that FairPoint chose communities it will spend the 6.6 million dollars in not
to compete with EC Fiber, but because those are places where their system needs
upgrading.

He
acknowledges the company has received a lot of complaints from the Vershire
telephone customers and says it's responding by upgrading equipment.

Smith
is confident that one day soon Vershire residents won't have the complaints
about phone service or the concerns about FairPoints DSL.

"Within
the next year, we won't be having this discussion."

Smith
says FairPoint has the financial wherewithal to keep making improvements. He says the company has been building cash
reserves and making debt payments all the while it's been aggressively making
capital improvements.

State
officials say without FairPoints penalty money it would be difficult to reach
the goal of getting broadband to all Vermonters by the end of next year.

Christopher
Campbell is Executive Director of the Vermont Telecommunications
Authority. Campbell says once the state meets the goal of providing
broadband to everyone, the work will continue - and whether its DSL, wireless
or fiber - the technology will change to meet future needs.

Campbell says Vermont is trying to coordinate lots of different funding
sources, including state funds, federal dollars, private investments and the
FairPoint penalty money.

A
situation like Vershire where
FairPoint's DSL service is hampering efforts by EC Fiber to install what is
considered to be a superior technology is hard to avoid.

"These different funding sources have
different parameters, they have different requirements, they have different
preferences," Campbell explains. " The way they all fit together isn't
always perfect and probably can't be perfect.
What we're trying to do is to try to make sure that everybody has at
least a basic level of broadband and that we don't leave anybody out."

Campbell defends the agreement to let FairPoint determine
where to expand broadband using the money it owned in penalties. He says had
the company simply paid the fines, the money couldn't have been used for that
purpose, adding,

"It's
very important to recognize that spending this 6.6 million dollars on broadband
was not something the regulators could do without FairPoint's agreement."

Earlier
this month, the state responded to complaints from residents in Vershire and
nearby towns by agreeing to build a 36 mile long fiber optic trunk line that can
be used to provide fiber broadband services to the area.

EC
Fiber says the line is a valuable addition, but now that it doesn't have access
to grant money, its going to be more difficult for them to expand expand into
those towns as originally planned.